CONNALLY'S FLIPPING HAT

[Chris Bristow]

Connally's hat juggling between 224 and 230 looks strange, almost as if it was sped up. I'm not saying it is fake but I think what we see in that 3rd of a second includes reflections off of the side window. I believe there are 3 bright white reflections occurring in frames 226, 228 and 229. They create a false impression of the movement of Connally's Stetson.
 I'm am trying to stuff everything into one graphic so it may seem crowded. The top 6 frames(224/230 minus the blurry 227) attempt to identify the hat, hand, sleeve cuff and the 3 reflections. The bottom 3 frames are close ups of the possible reflections in 226,228, and 229.
   Identifying the hat in 224 and 225 is guesswork. By 226 I think a slightly elongated/blurred hat is visible. On the right side of the hat and extending above is, imo, a reflection off the window. His hat appears too low to have Sunlight bouncing off it. If it is a window reflection it is only partially obscuring the hat and the hat is visible through the reflection. In that frame there is also a bright reflection coming off the front vertical window frame at the bottom where the reflection on the glass meets it. If the location of the hat is correct then the oddly shaped bright image above the hat would also be a reflection.
 Frame 228 shows a round reflection at the top of Connally's left shoulder. The 228 image at the bottom of the graphic has an insert from another frame for comparison of his left shoulder. In 228 his left shoulder appears to be visible. But if the round white image is his hat it should block our view of his shoulder. But there is also what looks like a dark artifact over Connally's jaw that lines up with the top of the left shoulder. The raised left shoulder might just an artifact too. Then his startled reaction and sudden lift of the left shoulder may be exaggerated. What we see just below the raised shoulder might be the real image of the shoulder which we should not see if the hat is there.
 Frame 229 shows his cuff and hand and confirms the hat is at the same location as previous frames. Frame 230 confirms the general hat position also.
 The last reflection is in 229. The triangle shape it somewhat transparent and seems to show what is behind it. It looks as if the lower part sits over the hat and the point extends above it.
 If those are reflections they create the illusion that the hat was raised up much more than it actually moved. It  may have barley moved from the position we see in frame 230. If those are reflections they are coming from the area near the loading dock entrance on the west side of the TSB. Possibly from the sky above it as the side windows are curved and point upwards.
 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Chris Bristow

[Chris Davidson]

SloMo:

https://vimeo.com/793101578

[Chris Bristow]

On 1/26/2023 at 1:04 PM, Chris Davidson said:

SloMo:

https://vimeo.com/793101578

Thanks for the GIF. The possibility that these are reflections is very speculative and I'm not sold on the idea. I am trying to understand that unreal looking hat flip centered at 228. J.C definitely raises his hand some but the white blob in 228 gives the sequence the very fast flipping motion.
 Jackie's right elbow in 228 shows her forearm to be almost level. The white blob is where her right gloved hand should be. I have to wonder if that blob is not her right hand. Her right hand in the MPI frame 239(Bottom right) makes for a good comparison of the light coming off her glove. It matches the color of the white blob in 228 well, but the blob in 226 looks very similar too, and it is definitely not her glove.
 In 228 J.C's right shoulder appears to be visible through the white blob. But it could be a fast hat movement that allowed the shoulder to be visible in the first part of the shutter open time then covered the shoulder for the last half of the shutter time. That creates an image of both the hat reflection and the shoulder to lay over each other making it look like the shoulder is visible behind the blob of light. Another problem with the reflections idea is they only appear in those few frames.